Grand Alliance of Destruction

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The Grand Alliance of Destruction are the tribes driven by Gorkamorka to return the Mortal Realms to their perilously natural state and tear down civilisation.[1a]

Overview

Principles

On some unconscious level, the tribes of Destruction are all driven to return the Mortal Realms to their most perilously natural state. Should they triumph, ever realm will be covered in blasted savannahs, frozen tundras and lightless dank caves. In such a world, only the strongest and most cunning predators would thrive, and everything that was once civilised and righteous would be reduced to the status of weakling prey. The creed of Gorkamorka is that might makes right, and his children strive to exemplify this truth with every acts of desecration and hooliganism they perform.[1a]

Despite their common drive to revert the realms to the wildest state each of their instinctual views diverges on this ideal state. For the Ironjawz the constant toppling of cities and vandalism of monuments is an attempt to make everywhere resemble the wild Ghurish Savannahs while for the Gloomspite Gitz the ideal world is a dark place with gloomy untamed mountains, claustrophobic forests, and wet damp caverns covered in impenetrable shadows where insects and arachnids skitter.[11a]

Waaagh!

Main article: Waaagh!

Waaagh! refers to campaigns of savage violence by the tribes of Destruction as well as well as a magical energy that can be utilized by shamans. While it is mostly associated with greenskins such as grots and orruks, it affects all those within the armies of destruction, including ogors, gargants, and troggoths. A Waaagh! campaign is not necessarily started intentionally, can be triggered by something so simple as one orruk nicking another's food, which can snowball into greater acts of violence, drawing in other tribes of destruction on a quest to destroy civilisation.[4a] Since the epoch of the Era of the Beast and the return of Kragnos, the God of Earthquakes, many tribes of destruction have put aside their differences and formed Big Waaagh!s to crush every Sigmarite stronghold they could get their hands on.[2a]

Religion

All the tribes of Destruction are children of Gorkamorka who is worshipped in different ways by the different cultures under his sway. Gutbuster ogors honour him in the form of the Gulping God, the Firebellies rever him in his aspect of the Sun-eater, and the Bonesplitterz view him as the supreme predator. Alongside him stands a crude pantheon of near-mythical beings. The gibbering Bad Moon is followed across the realms by the Moonclan Grots, the scuttling Spider God is revered by the Spiderfang Grots, and most tangible (and recent) is Kragnos, the earthquake god known as the End of Empires.[1a] The gargants of the Sons of Behemat revere their Godbeast father Behemat and their forefather Ymnog, as well as Gorkamorka - personified as two large stamping feet.[3a]

Factions

Name Leader(s) Home Realm Grouping
{{{3}}} Gloomspite Gitz Various Chamon Various
{{{3}}} Orruk Warclans Various Ghur Warclan
{{{3}}} Ogor Mawtribes Various Ghur Mawtribe
{{{3}}} Sons of Behemat Mega-Gargant Ghur Stomp
{{{3}}} Fimirach Fimirach Noble Ghyran Stronghold
{{{3}}} Monsters of Destruction

Gloomspite Gitz

Gloomspite Gitz fighting Stormcasts under the light of the Bad Moon.

The Gloomspite Gitz are mad, bad and extremely dangerous to everyone in their immediate vicinity. United in their worship of the Bad Moon, these boggle-eyed grots and their odious cave-beast allies may not be the most disciplined fighting force in the realms, but that hasn't stopped them undermining civilisation with a terrifying fervour. Their hordes pour out of the dank and clammy places of the realms, a tide of anarchic lunacy that sweeps away all before it. The Bad Moon, a malevolent celestial body, serves as a beacon for these grots as it charges through the void seemingly at random. Under its malign light, they are filled with a frothing mania they call the 'Gloomspite'. Their ultimate mission is to bring about the Everdank, an epoch of perpetual twilight in which they may rule the surface world.[2c]

Grots are short creatures, stooped and wiry, though they take a certain strength from raw spite. It would be fair to say that the average grot makes for a poor warrior, and are generally untrustworthy cowards by nature. But grots also thrive on being underestimated. They are cunning and devious and take thorough enjoyment in kicking around anyone they can, and in sufficient numbers they can prove surprisingly deadly. The original grot tribes split during the First Great Waaagh! and these grots soon found themselves prey to they myriad terrors stalking the forests and caves. Eventually, these grots learned swaddle themselves in black cloaks to ward off light, anD to appease the giant spiders that stalked the forests. Thus were born the Moonclan and Spiderfang grot tribes, and under the shared their shared worship of the Bad Moon they joined forces. When the Gloomspite is upon them, the grots do not take to battle alone. They are joined by their scuttling Squiggly beasts, towering brutes known as troggoths an and even lumbering Aleguzzler Gargants. Should they ever succeed in bringing about the Everdank, the other races of the realms will soon find themselves at the grots' demented mercy.[2c]

Sub-Factions

Name Leader Grouping
{{{3}}} Moonclan Loonboss Skrap
{{{3}}} Spiderfang Webspinner Shaman Stalktribe
{{{3}}} Gitmob Gitboss Mob
{{{3}}} Troggherds Troggoth King
Troggoth Hag
Troggherd
{{{3}}} Aleguzzler Gargants Aleguzzler Gargant

Orruk Warclans

When the Orruk Warclans are on a rampage, reality quakes. These green-skinned brutes are obsessed with fighting, and firmly believe that they are the 'ardest creatures in all the Mortal Realms. Orruks live for war and battle is, for them, an end itself. Every moment that passes without their choppas carving through flesh is a moment wasted. Their warclans are happy to fight just about anyone as evicenced by the mountains of bodies left in their wake. Orruks are the foremost children of the twin-headed Gorkamorka, the Ghurish God of Destruction, who the Orruks gleefully fought alongside during the Age of Myth. When Gorkamorka split, the Orruks came to venerate different aspects and seek Gork (or possibly Mork's) favour. Regardless of which aspect they serve all orruks will find themselves overcome with the same primal energy when war. Known as Waaagh!, it rattles around in their thick skulls, intensifying with every moment. Waaagh! can act as a savage dynamo, whose call cannot be ignored, driving orruks forward at the vanguard of Destruction's unstoppable advance. Multiple sub-cultures of orruks are known to exist, most prominently the Ironjawz, Bonesplitterz, Kruleboyz, and Greenskinz.[2d]

The Ironjawz embody the Gorkish side of the Gorkamorka divide. Clad in the thickest armour, these muscle-bound monsters will tackle any challenge with brute strength. Led by Megabosses that occasionally ride upon Maw-krushas, the Ironjawz consider themselves the embodiment of proper 'orrukiness'. The Bonesplitterz are the orruks most attuned to the power of the Waaagh!, and their clans are usually led by shamans rather than warriors. These Wurrgog Prophets and their Wardokk disciples are deeply connected to the beastly powers of Ghur and they advocate the belief that all the realms contain beast spirits whose bones can be tapped for power, although most orruks consider them loonies. The Kruleboyz reside in the ancient bogs and stinking fens of the Mortal Realms, emerging outward as mauraders of extreme Morkish kunnin'. The cruelly ingenious nature of their tactis has already garned a dark reputation, for it stands quite opposed to conventional orruk behavior. Led by their Killabosses, the Kruleboyz take great satisfaction not only in dominating other beings, but also the landscape, transforming it through strange magics of their spell-flinging Swampcalla Shamans.[2d] Since the Era of the Beast, the Kruleboyz have struck out at multiple Sigmarite strongpoints and poisoning the land beneath them. Other orruks are known to be organized into greenskin tribes led by brutal Warbosses.[5]

Sub-Factions

Name Leader Grouping
{{{3}}} Ironjawz Megaboss Warclan
{{{3}}} Bonesplitterz Wurrgog Prophet Warclan
{{{3}}} Kruleboyz Killaboss Warclan
{{{3}}} Greenskinz Warboss Warclan

Ogor Mawtribes

The Ogor Mawtribes are on a mission to gobble up the Mortal Realms in their entirety. These flabby brutes are monstrously strong, and what they lack in subtlety they more than make up for in terms of belligerent brawn. Ogorkind is amongst the most phsically intimidating of the Mortal Realms' races. Standing head and shoulder taller than a human warrior, and considerably bulkier and more muscular, they are a living testament to Destruction's creed of might making right. Those caught in the path of the ranging mawtribes are liable to finding themselves caught up and eaten alive, for ogors are bullish and bestial by nature. Food is central to an ogor's existence, which exists in two states - stuffing one's face or hunting for meat. To that end, the butchers and slaughtermasters (heralds of the Gulping God) guide the their tribes on their mawpath to their next meal.[2e]

Within these nomadic mawtribes can be found highly distinct subcultures. Most ogors belong to the Gutbuster warglutts, greedy and insatiable brutes led by a Tyrant. The warglutts often form the main meat of the mawtribe, whose Gluttons storm forward at alarming pace, and are backed by the blackpowder-obsessed Leadbelchers and their cannons. Riding to feast alongside the Gutbusters are the Alfrostuns of the Beastclaw Raiders. Draped in thick furs and with their flesh encrusted in frost and rime, these ogors are the most primitve of their kind. Forever pursued by the mystical ice storm of the Everwinter, the alfrostuns have been on the move since time immemorial. Led by their Frostlords, these ogors are infamous for the huge and hairy monsters that serve as their mounts - Stonehorns with bones of solid rock and Thundertusks that bring magical chill with them. Following these mawtribes may be ogor mercenaries known as Maneaters and fire-breathing shamans known as Firebellies. Since the rise of Sigmarite strongpoints, ogors have taken to ransacking them of everything edible - especially the inhabitants - or reducing them to frozen wastelands. Attempts to bribe or appease the mawtribes often ends poorly, for the in the minds of ogors, yesterday's ally is simply tomorrow's meal.[2e]

Sub-Factions

Name Leader Grouping
{{{3}}} Gutbusters Tyrant Warglutt
{{{3}}} Beastclaw Raiders Frostlord Alfrostun
{{{3}}} Firebellies Firebelly Cult
{{{3}}} Maneaters Maneater Band

Sons of Behemat

When the Sons of Behemat are on the move, all would do well to flee in terror. These gargantuan louts lay waste to settlements and squash entire armies for the boneheaded joy of it. Each is worth many times their own number of lesser warriors, and with every year they get larger, more boisterous and more violent. Even a single gargant is a force of destruction like little else. As tall as a Sigmarite chapel, they are capable of caving a Magmadroth's skull with a single punch or booting a thrice-bless lord of Chaos high into the air.[2f]

The gargant tribes are the children of the Godbeast Behemat, the World Titan - a being so large his knuckles were said to be akin to mountain ranges. In the Age of Myth, Behemat accompanied the Twin-Headed Gorkamorka on all manner of cataclysmic misadventures. However, Gorkamorka chafed under the oversight of the God-King Sigmar, who set Gorkamorka upon beast-slaying quests, and grew resentful of Behemat's freedom to wander at will. Out of brutish spite, Gorkamorka set Behemat a number of increasingly difficult tests, the final challenge being to best Sigmar. Behemat was to prove no match against the God-King, and was knocked unconscious in the Realm of Ghyran, remaining so for many years. However, as Archaon the Everchosen attempting to wake him during the Realmgate Wars, and set him upon the forces of Order, Behemat was slain by the Celestant-Prime by the power of Ghal Maraz and the Twelve Great Bolts. Since Behamat's death, a curious phenomenon has been seen - the gargants starting growing ever larger. Mystics and scholars specialising in Godbeasts speculate that there must always be a World Titan and that one of Behemat's own gargant spawn will one day grow just as big. These newly colossal beings have been dubbed Mega-Gargants, and have become an increasingly common sight in the hinterlands of the realms.[2f]

Mega-Gargants can be found in many lairs and forms like many creatures of destruction. The reclusive Kraken-eaters make their home alongside the sea beds. The belligerant Warstompers actively seek out and even instigate conflicts. The destructive Gatebreakers take great pleasure in knocking down the settlements of Order[2f] and the Beast-smashers can be found pulverizing the mightiest of beasts across the realms[9]. Leading many of these is King Brodd, the King of the Mega-Gargants, who seeks to avenge Behemat and raise the gargant race to prominence.[10]

Fimirach

The Fimir are a mist-dwelling race and are known to be found in marsh strongholds such the marshy crescent isles known as the Peel. Fimir despise light and wrap themselves in sorcerous mists, have unnatural flesh that twists and writhes to seal wounds moments after they are inflicted and at the end of their muscular tails there is a natural bone club that can smash with bone-breaking force.[7][6a]

Infamously degenerate and malign, their warriors possess prodigious strength and tenacity. The warriors and the Fimirach Nobles that lead them are tattooed with potent magical baleglyphs created by their Balefiend wizards. Above them all are the Meargh Matriarchs who carve the symbols and pick who becomes a Noble.[7]

Monsters of Destruction

The Monsters of Destruction are the beasts deployed by the forces of destruction. These include creatures such as the Skitterstrand Arachnaroks associated with the Spiderfang Grots,[8] the nightmarish Merwyrms that stalk the harbours of the Mortal Realms, the reclusive Basilisks, the primordial Magma Dragons and the reptilian worms known as Dread Maws.[7]

The forces of Destruction are even known to utilize the destructive powers of the realms in the form of Incarnate Elementals, beings formed of the coalesced magic of the realms.[7]

Warbands

Underworlds

Below is a list of warbands prominently featured in Warhammer Underworlds:

Warband Setting Faction
{{{3}}} Ironskull's Boyz Shadespire {{{3}}} Orruk Warclans
{{{3}}} Zarbag's Gitz Nightvault {{{3}}} Gloomspite Gitz
{{{3}}} Mollog's Mob Nightvault {{{3}}} Gloomspite Gitz
{{{3}}} Rippa's Snarlfangs Beastgrave {{{3}}} Gloomspite Gitz
{{{3}}} Hrothgorn's Mantrappers Beastgrave {{{3}}} Ogor Mawtribes
{{{3}}} Morgok's Krushas Beastgrave {{{3}}} Orruk Warclans
{{{3}}} Hedkrakka's Madmob Direchasm {{{3}}} Orruk Warclans
{{{3}}} Da Kunnin' Krew Harrowdeep {{{3}}} Orruk Warclans
{{{3}}} Blackpowder's Buccaneers Harrowdeep {{{3}}} Ogor Mawtribes
{{{3}}} Grinkrak's Looncourt Gnarlwood {{{3}}} Gloomspite Gitz

Trivia

Gallery

See Also

Sources

Grand Alliances and factions
OrderChaosDestructionDeath
Gloomspite Gitz (Aleguzzler GargantsGitmobMoonclanSpiderfangTroggoths) • Ogor Mawtribes (Beastclaw RaidersFirebelliesGutbustersManeaters) • Orruk Warclans (BonesplitterzGreenskinzIronjawzKruleboyz) • Sons of BehematFimirachMonsters of Destruction